Drying of foodstuff for conserving it for lean periods has been in use since times immemorial. Up to modern times, such drying was done by exposing fruit, vegetables, fish or meat to the sun heat, which served to evaporate the water contained in the material and to leave a dehydrated food which could be re-conditioned by immersion in water or by cooking, or could be eaten in its dry state. Dried prunes, apples and other fruit and vegetables are nowadays high on the consumers' list, while stockfish and dried meatstrips were in common use in former times, but are now the custom in primitive societies only.
Dehydration of fruit and vegetables has, in modern times, been fully industrialized, and various methods are being used to expel the water while permitting the restoration of taste and form after re-conditioning by immersion or cooking.
It is obvious that the price of commercially dehydrated food is much higher than that of the fresh product, and it is, therefore, the object of the present invention to provide a simple domestic dehydrator which will enable a housewife to buy large quantities of foodstuff during the season and to dry it in her home for storage and future consumption.
Several different designs for dehydrators have been proposed during the past years. All such designs typically embody a casing made of wood, metal or cardboard, an array of trays mostly consisting of a screen in a metal frame and a heating element, and a blower or fan for circulating the heat through the cabinet. These existing designs are generally big, heavy and expensive to produce. Air distribution is generally poor, resulting in uneven dehydration throughout the cabinet. Most existing units comprise a heater of over 1000 watt capacity which results in energy consumption; furthermore, such high capacity heaters require acurate temperature control devices which add to the cost of the device.